A Content Analysis of Selected Secondary History Textbooks’ Portrayals of
Abstract
The purpose of this study is to investigate the extent to which selected contemporary high school world history textbooks portray Christopher Columbus, Hernán Cortés, and Francisco Pizarro from a perspective of Durkheim’s sacred-profane theory. A process of qualitative content analysis was utilized in order to determine the existence of bias of treatment. Overall, the textbooks examined in this study evidenced a more sacred than profane bias in their portrayal of these historical figures. The results indicate a greater sacred characterization of Columbus than that accorded Cortés or Pizarro, each of whom received more balanced treatment. Of note is a lack of balance found in the contents of these textbooks’ treatment of the historical figures examined, one that might invite teachers and students to think more critically about how individuals and movements in history are portrayed. A Content Analysis of Textbooks Portrayal of Columbus, Cortes, and Pizarro The quality of social studies textbooks is a matter of ongoing discussion and one with a long history characterized mainly by discontent. In spite of the litany of attacks which come from widely different social-political perspectives, textbooks remain the centerpiece of the social studies curriculum. In fact, if one were to attempt a description of anything close to an accurate portrayal of the social studies curriculum in American schools, the textbooks used would be a most reasonable point of departure. An ample body of literature, mostly critical, speaks to the idea that textbooks greatly influence how students understand and perceive history (Al-Haj, 2005; Apple, 2000; Fitzgerald, 1979; Giroux, 1988; Harada, 2000; Hirsch, 1988; Lintner, 2004; Reynolds, 2001; Romanowski, 2009; Sewall, 2000). On one hand, critics maintain that textbooks lack traditional content needed to represent the dominant culture with narratives that provide the young with a held-in-common social/moral fabric (Hirsch, 1988; Sewall, 2000). Other critics argue that textbooks give short shrift to minority groups (Al-Haj, 2005; Banks & Banks, 2007) and to the perspectives of disenfranchised factions of society (Apple, 2000; Giroux, 1988). Whatever the case, all contend that textbooks are a dominant source of content taught in high school history classes, and they therefore play a crucial role in shaping the attitudes of the young (Apple, 2000; Giroux, 1988; Meyers & Savage, 2005; Wakefield, 2006).